Hah. In the end, I couldn’t sleep at all…

With her complicated feelings and various thoughts, Mercian ended up staying up all night. She touched her throbbing head as she got up and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

“Ruan, did you sleep well? Ruan?”

Ruan, who had been sleeping in front of the kitchen, suddenly went to the door and started barking.

“What’s wrong, Ruan?”

Could it be that someone has come again at this early hour?

Mercian hesitated for about 5 minutes at the door before slightly opening it to peek outside.

There’s no one?

As Mercian opened the door a bit more, Ruan darted out through the gap.

“Ruan! Where are you going!”

Startled by Ruan’s sudden action, Mercian opened the door and went outside after him.

Woof woof woof!!

“Ru… Ruan, what are you doing in front of someone else’s house at dawn? And old man Herald moved out, no one lives in that house now. So stop barking! Huh? What’s this, did someone move in?”

As Ruan barked, lights turned on inside the house and the front door opened.

“I’m sorry… Huh? Wh-why are you coming out of there?”

The front door opened and Ruan walked out of the house with a drowsy expression.

“Wh-why are you coming out of there?”

“Ah. Madam. Good morning.”

“What? What are you suddenly saying? Why are you there?”

“Ah. Is it a good dawn? But right now is a bit inconvenient…”

Wh-what? Is he saying I’m in a bad mood for waking him up?

Feeling embarrassed by Ruan’s drowsy expression as he spoke, Mercian hurriedly hugged the barking Ruan and said,

“Ah. I’m sorry. I must have woken you up. I came out because Ruan was barking towards this house. Well then, I’ll be going now.”

“Ah, Madam, that’s not what I meant…”

“Anyway, I’m sorry. Well then.”

“Madam, ju-just a moment.”

Embarrassed by Ruan’s seemingly rejecting attitude, Mercian quickly said goodbye and turned around, when suddenly there was a thud.

“Oh my! Ruan!”

After Mercian left, Ruan had tried all kinds of sleeping pills in the empire, but none had any effect.

He couldn’t sleep for even 30 minutes, let alone an hour.

Even the medicine that Cassel said would make him fall asleep within seconds, which he had obtained through difficult dark channels, only kept him awake all night instead of knocking him out.

He originally had insomnia, but when Mercian’s life or death became uncertain, Ruan couldn’t even think of lying in bed, worried about her well-being.

“Please get some sleep.”

When Cassel spoke to Ruan with a worried expression, Ruan smiled cynically and said,

“I can’t sleep anyway, but how can I sleep when I don’t know if my wife is dead or alive or where she is.”

For 5 months, Ruan had slept at most 2 hours a day, devoting the rest of his time solely to finding Mercian.

“Your Grace, at this rate, something will happen to you before you find your wife.”

Cassel muttered, looking at Ruan who was more nervous and sharp than when he was under the difficult curse they had managed to break.

“Don’t worry, I absolutely won’t die before meeting my wife…”

Contrary to Ruan’s determination, his nerves became more sensitive as he couldn’t sleep, and eventually, even Ruan himself was finding it difficult to endure his declining physical strength.

“No matter how much I try to sleep, I can’t. I miss my wife so much.”

Since a person cannot live without sleep, Cassel, who couldn’t bear to watch anymore, handed Ruan a medicine made by a sorcerer from the Kingdom of Alomand, which Moses had obtained upon hearing about Ruan’s insomnia, and said,

“Your Grace, this medicine should only be taken when you feel like you might die if you can’t sleep.”

It was a specially made medicine by the sorcerer with strong sleep-inducing properties. If taken, one would fall asleep within 30 minutes without fail and sleep for at least 6 hours, but if overdosed, one might never wake up. Therefore, Moses had cautioned to take the medicine only once a week if possible.

“I understand. So stop nagging.”

For Ruan, yesterday was almost the limit of how long he could endure without sleep.

Ruan, who had come out looking at the noisy outside just as he was about to lie down to sleep after taking the medicine Moses gave him, was overjoyed to see Mercian who had come looking for him.

However, thinking that he would soon fall asleep now that he had taken the medicine, he decided to send her away first, sleep, and then go find her.

Ruan, bothered by Mercian’s expression as she turned around hugging Ruan, tried to grab her to explain his situation, but against his will, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and his eyes closed.

.

.

.

“What do you mean? He took medicine?”

Worried about the collapsed Ruan, Mercian called Joseph.

“He must be someone with quite severe insomnia. This medicine is quite potent.”

Joseph, who was examining Ruan, said to Mercian.

“Ah. He did have some insomnia originally, but as far as I knew, he would fall asleep right away when he took sleeping pills.”

Throughout their marriage, Ruan had fallen into deep sleep within 10 minutes by her side.

For someone who responds so well to sleeping pills, what could have happened?

Seeing Mercian’s worried expression, Joseph patted her shoulder and said,

“Rosalyn, don’t worry. For now, he’s just asleep from taking the sleeping pill.”

Joseph carefully examined the medicine Ruan had left unfinished on the table and said,

“Rosalyn, I don’t know what your relationship is with this person, but if he wakes up, please talk to him. This medicine is very effective, but if taken too much, one might never wake up.”

“Never wake up?”

“Yes, this is no ordinary sleeping pill. By the way, to see medicine made by an Alomand sorcerer here… Anyway, when you take this medicine, you usually sleep soundly for about 6 hours, so just leave him be until then.”

“Thank you, Elder.”

“No need. Oh, Zelda said you might be coming down with a cold, so I brought some medicine for you too. Make sure to take it.”

“Thank you.”

After Joseph left, handing over the cold medicine, Mercian quietly looked at the sleeping Ruan.

Looking at Ruan’s face with protruding cheekbones and thin features, then seeing a face with flesh fully attached felt quite unfamiliar to Mercian.

I thought he was handsome then too. But with flesh on his face like this, he’s even more handsome.

Mercian stared blankly at Ruan’s face for a long time, forgetting that she was angry with him.

On the surface, he looks much healthier than when I left…

What on earth happened to you during the 6 months I was gone?

If you came back from the brink of death, you should have lived well…

Why did you appear before me like this?

Not even letting me hate you properly…

Mercian looked at Ruan worriedly for a long time before getting up and looking around the house.

The house, with only traces of old man Herald’s move left, was not in the form of a house where people live at all.

There were no signs of cooking food in the kitchen, and only a single bed was placed in the house…

What is this man really thinking?

Now that there’s no fear of dying, he could find a suitable noble lady to marry…

“Ma-Madam, I’m truly sorry. I was really wrong… Sob, Madam. Please don’t abandon me. I can’t live even a single day without you.”

Seeing Ruan sleep-talking with his handsome brow deeply furrowed, Mercian’s feelings became complicated.

I thought I had forgotten to some extent by now…

What should I really do with you…

Mercian quietly left Ruan’s house and returned to her own.

Knock knock.

“Rosalyn?”

“Huh? Zelda, what’s the matter?”

“What about you? I heard a man you know moved into the house across the street.”

“Ah… Did you hear from the Elder?”

Zelda glanced at the house across the street and quickly closed the door.

“Yes, when I heard that from the Elder, do you know how surprised I was? Could it be that the person who bought all the houses around yours is that man across the street?”

Mercian nodded to Zelda’s question and said,

“It seems that way.”

“My goodness. Who on earth is he, trying to be near you by buying all these houses? Surely it can’t be your dead husband coming back to life…”

Mercian smiled awkwardly without saying anything to Zelda’s words.

“Oh my. Is it really your dead husband coming back… to life? Is that possible?”

Zelda approached Mercian and asked in a lowered voice, fearing someone might hear, and Mercian nodded and answered,

“I know, right? Zelda. I thought such things wouldn’t happen, but a person who really died has come back to life.”

Mercian told the surprised Zelda all about what had happened in the capital.

“Oh? My goodness, Rosalyn, or should I say Duchess? Or not?”

Mercian laughed at Zelda’s words and replied,

“Pfft, Zelda. Just call me Rosalyn. The Duchess was a six-month temporary Duchess, and the contract has already ended, right?”

“Then why did your husband come looking for you? Oh my, oh my, could it be that the man I heard about in the capital, who came back to life and was searching for his runaway wife, was you, Rosalyn? Good heavens, the name I heard really was Ruan. Yes, I thought that noble name sounded familiar, but then I remembered the dog’s name here is Ruan and thought it couldn’t be.”

Mercian took a sip of tea with a faint smile at Zelda’s words.

“So what are you thinking of doing? Are you going to follow your husband?”

“Zelda, I told you he’s not my husband.”

“Okay, I got it. Your husband who came back to life, no, I’ll call him the Duke. So, Rosalyn, what will you do if the Duke’s feelings for you are sincere?”

“What?”

“At the bookstore, when that crazy Crown Prince, no, that madman was holding you, the Duke collapsed and mouthed that he loved you, right? I’m not sure of the details, but that doesn’t seem like an act. The Duke must have thought he might die. If he confessed to Rosalyn at that moment, wouldn’t that be his true feelings?”

At Zelda’s words, Mercian recalled Ruan mouthing “I love you” with a desperate expression.

Yes, as Zelda says, maybe that moment was sincere.

“Even if those feelings were real then, it doesn’t matter now.”

“Actually, you still have feelings for the Duke too, don’t you? That’s why you couldn’t work properly all day yesterday after he appeared, right?”

“Zelda, I’m telling you that’s not it.”

Looking at Mercian strongly denying it, Zelda said,

“Of course, I’m not saying your husband, I mean the Duke, did well, but he must have had unavoidable circumstances too. I think the Duke himself must not have felt comfortable deceiving you.”

“Zelda, it’s all in the past now, okay? Whether that person is alive or dead now has nothing to do with me!”

At Mercian’s words, Zelda suddenly clapped her hands as if something occurred to her and said,

“Oh my, oh my. How wonderful. Rosalyn, as you know, I love romance fantasy novels so much, right? Come to think of it, there are so many stories like this in them. The male lead who inevitably deceives the female lead and regrets it. And the female lead who makes the male lead suffer.”

“Suffer? Why?”

“Ah, so the man keeps confessing his love, but the woman doesn’t accept it. We usually say the male lead is suffering when we see him continuing to struggle emotionally.”

“Haha. I-Is that so?”

“Anyway, actually, isn’t naming the dog after the Duke because you still have feelings? You thought your husband was dead when you came here, right? Despite that, giving the dog your husband’s name means you still have lingering feelings, don’t you think?”

Mercian shook her head at Zelda’s words and replied,

“Zelda, I’ve been thinking about it all day yesterday too, but when I left the Duke’s residence, I already thought Ruan was dead, so I have no lingering feelings for him. I only brought the dog and gave it his name because he didn’t live long and left, so I hoped the dog would live long for the share he couldn’t live.”

“Hmm. Well, I can’t tell you what to do in someone else’s marriage, but I’m unconditionally on your side, Rosalyn. However, whatever choice you make, I hope it’s one you won’t regret.”

“Thank you, Zelda. For saving me at first, for helping me settle here like this. And even now.”

“Of course, Rosalyn is now my lovely little sister. If this big sister doesn’t take care of you, who will, right?”

Bi-big sister…

At Zelda’s words, Mercian once again recalled Lucienne, whom she had forgotten.